My Car/s - 41 to go of the big 50

My car is rather new and spiffy..............after much agonising I traded in my faithful purple Hyundai Excel 041 FBM last July for a shiny red Hyundai i30 747 LTL and I still feel guilty! Now I am still adjusting to this new car, its dimensions and spatial surrounds are still unfamiliar to me! I had my purple Hyundai for almost 10 years and knew her inside and out. I knew exactly how she fit and how she would respond and everything about her. I know I am anthromorphising an inanimate object but so what!

I've only had 3 cars in my time as a licensed driver, my very first car was a Datsun 200B 1981 wagon - it was a perfect first car! I learned a lot of lessons in that car, primarily that you need to check the oil in an older car regularly or you are going to spend 1991 New Years Eve weekend fixing an almost seized engine under the supervision of your beloved uncle and with your cousin, who got dragged into helping me, learning far more than you ever wanted too about motor engines and how they work and in particular, why the need for oil so much!

I, no doubt, will have this current vehicle for many years since I take care of my belongings and enjoy looking after them. I spring for a full detail at least once a year to give that show room polish and glamour and the services are religiously adhered to.

I was 22 before I got my licence and it took me three tries, since the first two tries were under the misapprehension that I had excellent vision, apparently when you are around 20-21 your visual acuity can drop dramatically and it did for me but I hadn't noticed really. It was only when I was at the movies, and I asked my brother who played a particular role because I couldn't read the credits and he noted "sis you need to get your eyes checked" that I kind of realised that the world around me had softened into a gentle blur and yes that may have been the reason why I failed my licence twice thus far. Oh the joy when I got glasses, I could see definition in trees and things in the distance, like speed signs and oncoming vehicles in my path if I tried to make a right hand turn right now.

I've enjoyed my freedom that came with having a car, I was determined to be braver than my dear mum who had a 5 k radius that she would drive in and about a 45k speed limit. I have my trusty sat nav if I am unsure where I am going and just set the destination and off I go. It hasn't let me down yet, I just love it.

I am determined to do a driving holiday and see a few sights one day, may even take Dixie along for the journey! We can always bunk in the car as the back seats fold down completely now and its almost a bed size for me. However I do find driving very tiring and so far 2.5 hours is my limit before fatigue really becomes a serious issue, so perhaps I need to condition myself to longer driving periods.

We shall see...........